Hello friend!
I sometimes feel unkind to my local comic show, in spite of my tight history with it. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Saskatoon show—I staunchly defend it against the type of commenters that seem to have to dump on everything, comparing our tiny Saskatoon show to the giant, international conglomerate-owned shows that boast the world’s biggest celebrities, and budgets comparable to the GDPs of small countries. Because it’s usually the first show of my season, the Saskatoon show often acts as a dress rehearsal of sorts to the shows that follow it throughout the year, the show where I work out the kinks, realize what little organizational things (comic sleeves! red duct tape!) that I’m missing before I take this little dog and pony on the road. Because of its familiarity, Saskatoon is rarely a show I get nervous about any more.
One of the most pleasing, and surprising elements of the Saskatoon shows these past few years has been being asked to moderate panels during the show. Sure, it’s a tapdance as I try to weigh the value of the experience of meeting these people against the money I’m losing not being at my show table, but over the years hosting panels has certainly given me some cherished memories. Whether it’s hobnobbing with my art heroes like Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett, long-ago crushes like Erica Durance, or beloved performers like Danielle Nicolet and Kayla Compton , each opportunity has certainly felt like a blessing.
My Best Friend Returns
Having been a part of the comic-con world for so many years now, I’m often asked about getting to meet all these celebrities, and the question I’m most frequently asked is, who was the nicest? My answer never changes: Brandon Routh. He was kind, generous with his time, embodying exactly what you’d hope Superman would be. Ten years later, he’s still my gold standard, especially since, in the months and years that followed he’d tweet me a message now and then, creating my running joke that we’re best friends. So you can imagine my excitement when I found out that not only was he returning to the City of Bridges, but I would be hosting the panel with him.
The hardest part of doing these panels for me isn’t the preparation in advance—though I really pride myself on doing as much research as I can, nor is it speaking to a crowd full of people. The hardest part is sitting back in the green room backstage, waiting for the guest to arrive at the panel room from their table. I’ve often talked about my boyhood dream of being a talk show host like David Letterman or Greg Kinnear, but in those nervous moments, I can definitely see why that job seems to take such a toll on the hosts. My heart races, by hands go cold, and I can feel my pulse in my ears. As before, I had no reason to be nervous when it came to Brandon Routh. He exploded through the doors, greeting me with a big Superman grin, saying “I met your family!” disarmingly, referring to having met my son and my sister at his table earlier that day, my son wasting no time in telling him his papa would be the one hosting the panel. I knew right then, this would go just fine.
It was pure electricity as I introduced him, with each of his roles getting a cheer, saying “You may know him as Todd Ingram from Scott Pilgrim, you may know him as Ray Palmer from Arrowverse series, you may know him as Doug Stanton from The Rookie, you may know him as Daniel Shaw from Chuck, if you’re my daughter you might know him from a music video with Taylor Swift–or you might just know him as Kal-El, the last Son of Krypton—I just call him my best friend…”
The panel went mostly smoothly, though I fear there were times I imitated SCTV’s Brock Linehan, going too far with some deep cut question I was curious about, forcing me to explain just what I was asking, or to repeat myself, but overall there was a lot of laughter, and I was able to learn a lot more about this man I so admired. And, as someone who is always unconsciously breaking down what I’m looking at in order to figure out how to draw it, let me tell you how strange it was to be attentively listening for a full hour to a man who in every way looks like Superman.
Perhaps the most special part was that so many of my friends, and my family were all in the audience to see me, so knowing they were out there gave me a special boost. My sister Shawna kept coming up with names or titles that slipped his mind (Severance! Keri Russell!) and my youngest daughter asked a cute question, eliciting awwws from the audience. There was even a funny moment when my mom, in proud defiance of the no filming rule was nearly asked to leave because she kept recording the panel.
Backstage, and the next day at the show, Brandon was very complimentary and kind, and while I have to admit he didn’t seem to remember me from 2014 (but like, how could he, really? Think how many shows he must do!) I didn’t really mind. I’ll certainly never forget that panel.
Yo, Joe!
At something close to the last minute, I was also asked to host the panel with Adrianne Palicki, the star of the GI Joe films, and about a million other projects (including the cancelled David E. Kelley Wonder Woman TV show, by which I’ve long been fascinated). As a lifelong Superman fan and a Brandon Routh fan for 18 years, I probably could have done his panel with just half an hour’s notice. But I wasn’t nearly as familiar with Adrianne’s career, so despite cramming as research, it could have easily gone poorly. To my surprise, my panel with Adrianne may have gone better than the one with Brandon—perhaps because I hadn’t spent years as a super-fan. This created a more relaxed atmosphere, where I felt at ease and bold enough to try being funny. She was warm, emotional, funny and forthcoming.
Though I was an admirer of hers going into the panel, I came out a genuine fan. I only wish my family could have been there to see the panel, but her kindness and humour was a surprise highlight. After the panel, she insisted on signing an autograph, and, having learned my lesson letting Erica Durance get away without a backstage selfie, I made sure to nab one with Adrianne. Just a delight!
Moving Forwards Using All My Breath
Though this post so far has been entirely looking back, I’d also like to take this moment to confirm that I’ll be tabling again next month, May 3-4, 2025—at the Saskatoon show, which will be called “Pop Con YXE”, a part of Prairieland’s rebrand of the original SaskExpo. It’ll take some getting used to the new name, but this year in particular the team seems really motivated to make the show as good as possible, so I truly believe there will be a different feel this year. I am so excited to see all my friends again, and will hopefully have some fun new work to share as well.
And since this is an art blog, I’m attaching the drawings I did of both Brandon and Adrianne, protecting the Saskatoon city skyline in their own distinctive ways. They are, respectively, the proud owners of the original artwork.1
Watch this space—I have at least one more show announcement coming soon, and a catch up post of some recent writing I’ve been doing.
Thanks for reading, I love you.
Unless they ditched it in an airport bathroom. But even so—movie stars were throwing away MY drawings! It’s fun to think about.